[Column] Delivery Workers' Union Strike Without 'Justification' Must Stop

"It is my fault for not anticipating the strike ahead of the holiday." Recently, a self-deprecating lament appeared on an online community, expressing frustration over not receiving parcels for more than three weeks due to the courier strike. It is a criticism filled with resentment, seemingly resigned to the fact that consumers are bearing the full brunt of the indefinite courier strike.

On the 25th, it marked the 28th day since the CJ Logistics branch of the Korea Federation of Service Workers' Unions (KFSWU) National Courier Workers' Union, affiliated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), began striking to urge the implementation of a ‘social agreement’ to prevent death from overwork. The strike, now in its fourth week, is causing enormous damage not only to consumers but also to online small business owners and non-unionized couriers still working. The delivery disruptions that started in the Seoul metropolitan area have expanded nationwide to places like Busan and Ulsan, and with other courier unions such as Lotte and Hanjin joining the strike, consumer inconvenience is growing day by day.

The main issue the CJ Logistics union cites for the strike is the fair distribution of the increased courier fees. According to the union, although courier fees were raised by 170 won following the social agreement, the company is only using about 50 won of that increase for the couriers. They claim that the agreement to prevent death from overwork by addressing the shortage of sorting personnel is not being properly implemented.

However, the justification for the strike disappeared following the first on-site inspection results announced by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) the day before. MOLIT revealed that all locations inspected were complying with the social agreement to prevent courier overwork. They judged that the union’s claims regarding the deployment of dedicated sorting personnel, additional compensation when couriers inevitably perform sorting tasks, enrollment in employment and industrial accident insurance, and restrictions on late-night deliveries were all being properly observed.

The courier union expressed its intention to continue the strike, rejecting MOLIT’s findings. They argued that the investigation did not cover CJ Logistics’ act of taking half of the courier fee increase as profit.

Consumers’ patience is reaching its limit amid repeated strikes without just cause. They say they can no longer ‘empathize’ with strikes that hold parcels hostage every holiday and year-end. In fact, a petition on the Blue House’s National Petition Board titled ‘Please revoke the strike rights of individual business operators such as couriers’ has garnered 13,689 signatures as of this date, signaling a rapid shift from the previously tolerant attitude toward courier union strikes over the past year. Justification means ‘a reasonable cause.’ Actions without justification cannot gain sympathy. This is why the public is inconvenienced by the courier union strike.